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Genocide Denied

I. Introduction

The principal purpose of the current thesis lies in the comparative analysis of three

major approaches to the issue of Armenian genocide. The researched worldviews include: the

Armenian

,

Turkish

, and

American

visions of the Armenian genocide. Also, a mental note

should be made that the investigated worldviews are discrepant and contradictory, making the

ongoing study more valuable. In other words, the relevance of the present thesis lies in the

necessity to ascertain which worldview with regard to the Armenian genocide is the most

viable and incontrovertible. Additionally, the current study is likely to explore the correlation

between the analyzed approaches to the matter of the Armenian genocide and the world

vision of the aforesaid genocide in general.

In view of the above, the thesis statement should be formulated as follows:

The historical facts and documentary evidence proves the existence of the Armenian

genocide of 1915-1923, whereas the general political worldview, sustained by Turkey and the

United States, is based on the Armenian genocide denial.

In order to guarantee the coherence and logical consistency of the thesis, a set of

research questions needs to be answered. Therefore, the research questions must be

enumerated as follows:

1.

What is the Armenian vision of the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923?

2.

What is the Turkish position concerning the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923?

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3.

What is the American position with regard to the Armenian genocide of 1915-

1923?

4.

Which of the worldviews regarding the Armenian genocide is the most

substantiated?

5.

What is the role of religion in the Armenian genocide of 1915-1923?

6.

What is the impact of the aforesaid study on the personal worldview?

II. The Armenian point of view concerning the matter of the Armenian genocide

To start with, it should be clarified that the issue of Armenian genocide is tightly

connected with the past status of Armenia in the Ottoman Empire. Analysis of the

complexities in the relationships between the Armenians and the Turkish will help to grasp

the impetus to the genocide. According to Suny (2009), Armenians passionately defend their

position that “massive deportations and massacres of a peaceful, unthreatening people were

ordered and carried out by the Young Turk authorities and that these events constitute a

genocide” (932). Also, the Armenian researchers emphasize that almost all prominent

scholars accept the position that the intensification of the massacres of the 1890s resulted in

the genocide of 1915. However, there are still disparities in various approaches to the nature

of the aforesaid massacres.

In this light, Richard G. Hovannisian starts his contemplations on the issue of the

Armenian genocide by asking the question, whether the results of total war in the Armenian

plateau are incremental cleansing or premeditated genocide (5). According to the author, the

strictly Armenian answer to the aforementioned question lies in the fact that the genocide is

the premeditated death warrant for the Armenian people. Moreover, the Armenian scholars

and their Western colleagues express confidence that the death warrant in a form of the

genocide had been issued in covert meetings of the Young Turk dictators before the Ottoman

Empire entered the Second World War as an ally of Germany (Hovannisian 5).

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In contrast to the purely Armenian approach, certain Western thinkers, such as Jay

Winter, Norman Naimark, Ronald Suny, and Donald Bloxham are prone to believe that the

“total war” policies became worse after Turkey’s entering the First World War leading the

country to the deterioration and radicalization of different repressive measures “into the most

extreme form of persecution” – genocide (Hovannisian 5).

Nevertheless, the Armenian researchers accentuate the deliberate character of the

Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenians substantiate their vision of

genocide with the historical evidence. Thus, various plans to deal with the Armenians, the